EARLY TO MIDDLE

CHILDHOOD

PHYSICAL GROUP 3
DEVELOPMENT Elly Stencey Marcus
Norraini Mokhtar
Afifah Mohd Nizan
Developmental
Changes
in the Body
 Physical Growth
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Slowed down a bit compared to infancy
Loss of babyish appearance
Grow about 2 - 3 inches per year.
Gain about 4 - 6 pounds per year.
Boys tend to become slightly taller and heavier.
Have all 20 of primary teeth (around 3yo) and may
have 20/20 vision (around 4yo)
Torso has lengthened and body proportions become
more like those of adults (by the age 6)
These growth patterns are seen when children receive
adequate nutrition
MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
Less rapid than in earlier years.
Variations in growth patterns (may due to gender,
ethnic origin, genetics, hormones, nutrition,
environment, or disease).
Grow about 2 - 3 inches per year.
Gain about 5 - 7 pounds per year.
Lower portion of body grow fastest.
Leaner and more athletic appearance. Muscles become
flexible.
Baby teeth replace by permanent teeth.
Experience a prepubescent growth spurt (earlier in
girls) and result in changes in body shape.
 Gross Motor Skills
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Acquire through self-teaching and observation.
Involve the large muscle used in locomotion.
Boys and girls are similar but boys show advantage
in kicking and throwing, while girls better at balance
and precision.
Early crawlers tend to do better.
Develop the ability to run, jump, and hop.
Develop better upper body mobility (around 3 –
4yo).
Whole body coordination improves.
MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
Continue to refine.
Become faster, stronger, and better coordinated.
Improved on flexibility, balance, agility and force.
Love to run, jump, leap, throw, catch, climb, and
balance.
Individual differences due to body build, family
encouragement/expectation and school/community
lesson available.
Boys play more physically active games.
Girls favor games that include expression.
Fearless may results in accident.
 Fine Motor Skills
EARLY CHILDHOOD MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
Hand-eye coordination improves.
Writing tend to be large at first, and legibility gradually
increases.

Drawings show gains in organization, detail and

representation of depth.

Individual differences due to body build, family

encouragement/expectation and school/community
lesson available.
 Gesell's Theory
Through his observations and research, Gesell concluded that children go through
predictable stages of growth. In fact, Gesell's theory formed the basis for just about every
other developmental theory since his time. Some of the key points associated with his
theory include:
– Although all children cycle through the same stages or sequences of growth, they don't
enter the stages at the same time. Each child has its own unique pace.
– Pacing is influenced by internal factors, such as physical and mental development,
genetics, personality and temperament.
– Pacing is also influenced by external factors, like parenting style, environment, peers,
culture and health.
– Children's development changes due to a feeling of equilibrium, or calm plateau's of
learning, and disequilibrium, an unsettled time of rapid growth and learning.
SLEEP
PATTERN FOR
CHILDREN.

• Newborn to 12 months

• Toddlers

• Preschoolers

• School – aged children

How baby sleep change from newborn
to 12 months?
As they get older, babies:
– sleep less in the daytime
– are awake for longer between naps
– have longer night-time sleeps and wake less at night
– need less sleep overall.
Sleep patterns

Newborn to 3 months.
– For newborns, sleep occurs around the clock and the sleep-wake cycle interacts
with the need to be fed, changed and nurtured.
– Newborns sleep a total of 10.5 to 18 hours a day on an irregular schedule with
periods of one to three hours spent awake.
– Babies sleep in cycles that last about 40 minutes. Each cycle is made up of active
sleep and quiet sleep.
– . Babies move around and grunt during active sleep, and sleep deeply during
quiet sleep.
Sleep patterns

3 month – 6 month
– At this age, babies need 15-16 hours of sleep every 24 hours.
– Babies might start moving towards a pattern of 2-3 daytime sleeps of up to two
hours each.
– And night-time sleeps get longer at this age. For example, babies might be
having long sleeps of six hours at night by the time they’re six months old.
Sleep patterns

6 months - 12 month
– Around this age, baby will probably need 14-15 hours sleep every 24 hours and
most baby have their longest sleeps at night.
– By eight months, most babies can settle themselves back to sleep without a
parent’s help. Others keep waking if they need help to settle back to sleep, or if
they’re still having breastfeeds or bottles during the night.
– At this age, most babies are still having 1-2 daytime naps. These naps usually
last 1-2 hours.
Sleep patterns

3 to 5 years (Pre-schoolers)
– Preschoolers typically sleep 11-13 hours each night and most do not nap after
five years of age.
– At this age, difficulty falling asleep and waking up during the night are
common.
– With further development of imagination, preschoolers commonly experience
nighttime fears and nightmares.
– sleepwalking and sleep terrors peak during preschool years.
Sleep patterns

School aged children

– Children aged six to 13 need 9-11 hours of sleep.
– However there are factors which lead to sleeping problems, like school activity,
watching T.V or games , or consuming caffeine products.
– All this will lead to disruptions of sleeping patterns.
– Poor or inadequate sleep can lead to mood swings, behavioral problems such as
ADHD and cognitive problems that impact on their ability to learn in school.
Development of
Brain
Development of the brain.

– The brain grows faster then the rest of the body during early development
year.
– At age 2 years, brain is 75% of adult weight
– At 5 years, brain is 90% of adult weight.
– Body weight is only about 1/3 that of adult size.
– The increase in brain size is due to:
a) continuing myelination of nerve fibers
b) facilitating development of fine motor skills, balance and coordination.
Development of the brain
– The brain grow faster then the rest of body during the early development years.
– Visual skill are also facilitated by brain development,.
– Enables learning to read
– By ages 4- 7 most children experience increase in ability to focus on schoolwork.
Development of the brain

– Right brain / left brain

– Left Hemisphere functions :
 Logical analysis, problem solving, language computation.
– Right Hemisphere functions:
 Usually superior in visual/spatial function, aesthetic and emotional responses, and
understanding metaphors.
– But brain functions are not completely separated as to hemisphere.
– Children are neither right brained nor left brained
– The functions of both hemisphere overlap via the corpus callosum ( the nerve fibers connecting
the hemispheres)
Development of the brain

Plasticity of the brain.

– Refers to the ability to compensate for injuries to the brain.
– Plasticity is the greatest about the age of 2 years then gradually declines
– Sprouting (growth of new dendrites) and redundancy of neural connection
enable plasticity.
– If adult suffer damage causing loss of speech, they may not recover it, but
preschoolers may regain function.
Development of the brain

– How well a brain develops depends on many factors in addition to genes, such
as:
 Proper nutrition starting in pregnancy
 Exposure to toxins or infections
 The child’s experiences with other people and the world
Overview
CHILDREN’S HEALTH
Nutrition ~ Eating Habits ~ Illness ~ Injuries
 Healthful eating has many
benefits for children. It
can:
Nutrition and  Stabilize their energy.
 Improve their minds.
eating  Even out their moods.
behavior  Help them maintain a healthy
weight.
 Help prevent mental health
conditions. These include depression,
anxiety, and ADHD.
 Nutrition

• Caloric Needs
~ 4-6 year olds increase caloric needs to approx. 1,400 calories a day (opposed to
about 1,000-1,300 at 1-3 yrs)
~ During 2nd - 3rd years appetite becomes erratic.

• Taste Preferences
~ Early preference for sugar and salt increases with exposure.
* Many children eat too much sugar and salt.
* Parents serve as role models and should encourage eating healthy vegetables
and fruits.
~ Beginning with tiny amounts 8-10 times a week to familiarize tastes to child.
Age in Years 2-3 4-8 9-13

Sex Girls and Boys Recommended

Vegetables and Fruits  4 5 6 Number of Food
Guide Serving
Grain Products  3 4 6
per Day
Milk and Alternatives  2 2 3-4

Meat and Alternatives 1 1 1-2

 • Provide your kids comfort. Children thrive on
routine. Knowing they have dinner or other
meals with their family regularly helps them feel
Make safe.

mealtimes a • Talk with your kids. Show interest in what’s

going on in their lives. Tell them what’s going on
in yours. Build stronger connections among your
priority family members.
• Monitor their eating habits. Older kids and
teenagers spend more time eating at school or
at friends’ houses. Use this time to watch what
and how they eat. See if there is anything you
can do to encourage better habits.
• Set an example for your child. If you prepare
and eat healthy foods yourself, your child will
eat healthier, too. Avoid obsessive calorie-
counting. Don’t talk negatively about yourself.
Your child could adopt the same attitude. This
could lead him or her to develop body image
issues or negative associations with food.
Approaches to nurture eating habits
Practicing responsive
parenting by
discriminating hunger
from other distress cues
and avoiding always using
food to comfort your child
Serving portion sizes that
Offering developmentally
are developmentally
appropriate and healthy
appropriate for age and
foods to your child during
nutrient needs of your
the transition to solids
child

Making a wide variety of

Choosing when and what
nutrient-dense rather than Create a positive feeding
the child should eat, but let
energy-dense, nutrient environment by arranging
him/her child decide how
poor foods available and regular family meals
much to eat
accessible to your child

Create social and physical

Reducing their exposure to
environments where
unhealthy foods and
children live, learn, and
providing guidance to
play more supportive of
children in making healthy
physical activity and
food choices
healthy eating
 There are a number of common childhood conditions
such as ear infections and tonsillitis which may be
unavoidable.
Illnesses
among
But children are also subject to other preventable
children diseases such as the serious and potentially lethal
infectious diseases prevented by immunizations and
dental caries (tooth decay), which can be prevented by
ongoing oral care and fluoride treatments.

Children may be born with health problems. For

example, a cleft lip or palate is evident at birth. But some
equally common birth defects, such as some heart
 malformations, may not be immediately apparent.
 Minor Illness
Typically: colds, stomach upsets, and diarrhea

Most illnesses in children are minor.

Health
Most children experience minor illnesses.
&
Illness -These are considered “normal” childhood illnesses.
-Usually last a few days or less; not life threatening.
-Ages 1-3 years: average 8-9 a year.
-By ages 4-6 years: average drops to 4-6 a year.
-Exposure can lead to creation of antibodies that help prevent the
illnesses in adulthood when they can be more serious.
 Major Illness
Chronic Illnesses
- Arthritis; Diabetes; Cerebral Palsy; Cystic Fibrosis
- Approx. 1/3 or 20 million children under 18 years suffer from a chronic illness

Major Illnesses

Health - Rubella (German Measles); Tetanus; Mumps; Whooping Cough; Diphtheria; Polio;
Pneumonia; Tuberculosis

& In U.S. and other Industrialized Countries

- Dramatically reduced due to widespread immunizations and development of antibiotics
and other medications.

Illness - Lead poisoning found in paint and water pipes can cause neurological damage in early
childhood.

In Developing Nations
- 8-9 million children die from major illnesses.
- Air pollution causing respiratory infections: 1 death in 5 in children under 5 years
- Diarrhea kills nearly 2 million due to unsafe water, poor sanitation, and hygiene.
Injuries It should be possible to
But other major areas of
safety concern remain -
protect a child from an The mandated uses of
such as the all-too-
among accident and injury, such
as from common cuts, 
car seats, safety belts,
bicycle helmets, tamper-
frequent drownings of
children in swimming
resistant closure
children burns, and accidental
poisoning. Considerable
systems, and the
establishment of national
 pools, their accidental
swallowing of household
progress has been made and regional  cleaning products, their
in the safety arena being burned by a hot
poison control centers
(such as in the rapid stove or heater, or being
are also examples of
recall of dangerous accidentally shot with a
advances in child safety.
toys). firearm. The list is
endless.
 Cause more deaths in early childhood than the next 6 most frequent
causes combined

Motor Vehicle Accidents: single most common cause of death in

early childhood

Accidents
Ratio by Sex:
* Boys most likely regardless of SES

By Socioeconomic Status (SES):

* Poor children are 2 times more likely to die in vehicular accidents.
* Poor children 5 times more likely to die from fires.
* High incidence attributed to living in dangerous housing
References

– https://raisingchildren.net.au
– https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/children
– https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/early-brain